Women Kick Off Quarterfinal Play at NCAA Division I Team Championships Thursday in Waco Texas; USTA Announces Dates for US Open Collegiate Wild Card Playoffs; Three US Boys Reach Quarterfinals at ITF J300 in Italy

Although I will not be in Waco, most of my next four days will be squarely focused on the NCAA Division I Team Championships, hosted by Baylor University. I'll be watching it all on ESPN+, with the Cracked Racquets crew providing quarterfinal coverage before ESPN takes over for the semifinals and finals. ESPN's involvement appears to have been responsible for the much improved schedule this year, with no matches being played simultaneously. That will make for a lengthy Saturday semifinal day, but it's certainly preferable for fans to be able to concentrate on one match at a time.

Play begins at 11 am Eastern Thursday, with the women's quarterfinals as follows:

ALL TIMES EASTERN

Georgia[1] v Duke[8] 11am
North Carolina[5] v LSU[13] 2pm
Michigan[3] v Oklahoma State 8pm
Tennessee[10] v Texas A&M[2] 5pm

The men's quarterfinal schedule for Friday, with the women having the day off this year:

Wake Forest[1] v Columbia[8] 11am

Mississippi State[12] v Stanford[4] 2pm

Texas[3] v UCLA 8pm

Virginia[7] v TCU[2] 5pm

The women's semifinals are scheduled for 11 am and 2 pm Saturday, with the men's semifinals scheduled for 5pm and 8 pm. 

The women's final will be at 5pm Sunday and the men's final is scheduled for 8 pm Sunday.

Links to live scoring, rosters and box scores can be found at host Baylor's tournament website.

For more on the Elite Eight, see this article at Tennis Recruiting Network.

The USTA announced the dates for the inaugural US Open Collegiate Wild Card playoff at the National Campus in Lake Nona Florida, which will feature four American singles players and four American doubles teams competing for main draw and qualifying wild cards to this year's US Open.

With the NCAA championships moving to the fall, the USTA determined that continuing the system which granted a main draw wild card to American champions crowned in May was no longer feasible given the nine-month gap between the events. The finalists from the fall NCAA championships, if American, are automatically given entry into the playoff, which will be held June 16-18 in Lake Nona. 

The release below does not provide any details on the scheduling, but I'm assuming that three days means that the winners of the singles semifinals will have a day off, with the doubles semifinals and finals played back-to-back. 

It also doesn't mention the players who have already qualified: NCAA champion Michael Zheng of Columbia and finalist Ozan Baris of Michigan State on the men's side, and NCAA finalist DJ Bennett on the women's side. There's no question that Arizona's Colton Smith will be invited, so the committee mentioned in the release will need to make just one more men's selection. Currently, the Americans with the highest ITA rankings are Stanford's Samir Banerjee[7], Ohio State's Aidan Kim[11] and Wake Forest's Stefan Dostanic[13], but with Banerjee and Dostanic still competing in the team event, (as is Zheng) those rankings can change, and ATP rankings and a World Tennis Number rating are also part of the criteria.

In addition to Bennett, who has an ITA ranking of No. 4, Texas A&M's Mary Stoiana[1] is, like Colton Smith, a certain invitee. North Carolina's Reese Brantmeier[3], Michigan's Julia Fliegner[6] and Stanford's Valerie Glozman[8] are the top Americans in the ITA rankings.

US OPEN WILD CARD PLAYOFFS FEATURING TOP AMERICAN COLLEGIATE PLAYERS TO BE HELD JUNE 16-18 AT THE USTA NATIONAL CAMPUS

 

USTA Increases Commitment to College Tennis with Expanded 

US Open Wild Card Pilot Program

 

ORLANDO, Fla., May 14, 2025 – The United States Tennis Association (USTA) today announced, in collaboration with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), that the US Open Wild Card Playoffs will be held June 16-18 at the USTA National Campus.

 

The new event is part of an expanded NCAA-linked wild card pilot program that will more than double the average number of American collegiate players that earn US Open wild cards each year, with six guaranteed US Open wild card entries up for grabs.

 

The winners of a four-player men’s and women’s singles playoff and a four-team men’s and women’s doubles playoff will earn US Open main draw singles and doubles wild cards, respectively, while the men’s and women’s singles finalists will earn US Open qualifying wild cards.

 

Participation in the playoffs will be determined by a committee made up of USTA staff, college tennis coaches and an ITA representative. Any American player or American doubles team that wins the NCAA singles or doubles championship or reaches the singles or doubles final at the NCAA DI Individual Championships held in the fall will automatically qualify for the playoffs. The remaining slots will be awarded by the committee who will evaluate players on a number of factors including 2024-25 match record, ITA ranking, ATP/WTA ranking, professional results, WTN rating and head-to-head results.

 

This pilot program coincides with the NCAA DI Individual Championships shifting to the fall through at least the 2025-26 season.

 

Previously, the USTA awarded a US Open main draw wild card to American NCAA singles or doubles champions, while an American NCAA singles finalist received a qualifying wild card. Over the past 10 years,  an average of less than three NCAA-linked US Open wild cards per year were awarded, despite an increasing prevalence of former college tennis players having success on the professional circuit.

 

American NCAA champions that have previously benefited from the US Open wild card as way to jumpstart their professional careers include Danielle Collins (Virginia – 2014, ‘16); Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA – 2016); Emma Navarro (Virginia – 2021); Ben Shelton(Florida – 2022); and Peyton Stearns (Texas – 2022). 

Three American boys have advanced to the quarterfinals of this week's ITF J300 in Santa Croce Italy, the warmup tournament to the J500 in Milan next week.

No. 2 seed Jack Kennedy plays No. 7 seed Jamie Mackenzie of Germany, No. 6 seed Keaton Hance faces unseeded Nikita Bilozertsev of Ukraine and No. 8 seed Jack Satterfield meets unseeded Kuan-Shou Chen of Taiwan for a place in Friday's semifinals.